WORLD BRIEFING : GERMANY : Convert wanted in suspected plot

Authorities have identified a 27-year-old German convert to Islam as an Al Qaeda associate suspected of traveling to Afghanistan and planning to attack German targets.

The report could fuel concerns about European converts being recruited by Islamist terrorist groups for attacks.

The Federal Criminal Police Office confirmed a Spiegel Online report that it had posted notices across Afghanistan warning that Jan Schneider, an ethnic German, may plan attacks on German military or civilian sites in Afghanistan.

The posters were put up at German military bases, checkpoints, embassies and the international airport, according to Spiegel. Schneider left Germany in 2004 to study Arabic in Saudi Arabia.